Saturday Night Function

This past October, I was fortunate enough to travel back to Atlanta, GA to celebrate homecoming and the 150th anniversary of my alma mater, Morehouse College. Morehouse holds a special place in heart because that is where I discovered photography. Being back in the Atlanta University Center was quite surreal. I was able to reconnect…

Theresa Ortolani : Klompching Gallery FRESH 2015 Finalist

I am honored to have been selected among Klompching Gallery's FRESH 2015 Finalists. DECOMPOSED explores the systems and boundaries between binaries – image/text, conscious/unconscious, corporeal/spiritual – and focuses on the points at which these constructs converge, invert and decompose. These primarily lens-based images were crafted via various techniques: masking, piercing, sewing, drawing, digital imaging, and printed in multiple…

Interview with YOLA MONAKHOV STOCKTON

As part of Joanna Lehan's class this semester we took two artist visits where we had the chance to meet and talk with artists in their studios. We met Yola Monakhov Stockton, who actually teaches at ICP, and followed up with her about some outstanding questions. You can check out Yola's beautiful work here. 1. How did…

Midday Break: Optical Poem

Wacthing this beautiful video in Jean Marie Casbarian´s Graduate Seminar class. The short film An Optical Poem, 1938, by the celebrated German-born abstract film-maker Oskar Fischinger, in its entirety, composed to Franz Liszt's "2nd Hungarian Rhapsody." Made entirely with paper in stop motion fashion.

Walk

Walk One: Not ‘OBJECTIVELY’ everything seen, heard, etc. along the way.  Type up as a kind of ‘LIST POEM’ (be a camera lens of world’s phenomena). Walk Two: Note ‘OBJECTIVELY” everything running through your head.  Type up as a kind of “INTERIOR MONOLOGUE” (be a tape-recorder of mind’s phenomena).'

Challenges in the Space Age of Photography

Part II: In Conversation with Elisabeth Biondi, from the series In Pursuit of an MFA  Elisabeth Biondi moderates a panel of experts at Fridman Gallery in discussion about the challenges recent graduates face. With: Vince Aletti, Chris Boot, Brian Clamp, Allen Frame, Andrea Meislin and Charles Traub. (Abridged Transcript) Elisabeth Biondi: I come from a very traditional editorial background, and…

The Space Age of Photography: In Conversation with Elisabeth Biondi

from the series In Pursuit of an MFA I had the honor of speaking with magazine world luminary, Elisabeth Biondi, at Fridman Gallery where Lift Off: 2014 NYC Photography/Video, an exhibit she curated, featuring recent MFA graduates, is on view through February 28. Elegant, articulate, and generous with her teachings and time, Elisabeth spoke with me about her years as Visuals Editor for…

Hangin’ with Foley

from the series In Pursuit of an MFA Michael Foley and I have followed a similar trajectory: New York –> Boston –> San Francisco –> New York We first met, circa late 90's, at the Ansel Adams Center for Photography/Friends of Photography, where we both worked – he, a docent; I, an educator. A photography museum in…

On Songbook: In Conversation with Alec Soth

from the series In Pursuit of an MFA Joanna Lehan, professor: This show came out of the “Dispatches” project, which was included in our last ICP Triennial. We had a whole wall of books that reflected the self-publishing phenomenon, and you were such an important part of that. Is there anything you would like to tell…

In Pursuit of an MFA

Twelve trudge 1.4 miles, post-blizzard, from Bryant Park to Chelsea. One of many stops, along the way to an MFA. Joanna Lehan's Survey of Contemporary Photography stormed Sean Kelly Gallery for Alec Soth’s exhibition, Songbook, on opening morning. Fortunate to have engaged in an impromptu conversation with the artist – I think he was empathetic to our cold shivering selves –…